West Coast Tour 4/16/07 thru 4/27/07

I will be heading out to the West coast to do some promotional events for the next couple weeks. Please check my homepage for locations and times. www.roccoart.com
If you are in the area, please stop by and say hello! With these type of events, the more the merrier.

Alex and the Ironic Gentlemen

This is the latest YA book jacket I have completed for the newly formed Weinstein Books.

Gollywhopper Jacket-final Painting

Sorry it took me so long to post this. I am catching up on things now...

Another painting for Moonpowder...

Barnes and Noble Signing

I had a great time at Barnes and Noble in Staten Island this past Sunday. Here are a couple of pics. You can see my daughter Alaya wanting to crawl up into my lap during the reading. She is obviously trying her best to distract me, but the show must go on!

new Moonpowder painting and detail

Here is the latest Moonpowder painting. It was fun creating this room for my little hero. The lighting is something that is important to the mood of the scene, and it took me a bit of time to get it right. I am not sure it totally works just yet, but it is close, and I will adjust the colors of all the paintings once they are all complete.
On another exciting note, I have been invited as a special guest to speak at the April meeting of the Children's Book Librarians of Los Angeles. I will have twenty minutes to speak about my work and I am thrilled about this opportunity. I moved from L.A. to NYC with the intention of creating children's books, and now I get to return to L.A. as a published author!
I have also been invited to do a book signing at the infamous children's bookstore, Hicklebees, in San Jose on April 25th.

Wolf! Wolf! in the Bookstores!

This past weekend I had a big thrill. I walked into Books of Wonder in NYC and saw copies of my book on the shelves. My heart even skipped a beat when I looked down the isle and saw someone holding a copy of Wolf! Wolf! It took me another second to realize it was a close friend who was buying a copy. I signed the book for her daughter and went home with a silly grin.
I will be doing a book signing at Books of Wonder on March 17th from noon to 2pm, so if anyone is interested, please stop by and say hi.

Happy Birthday Eli!!!

My nephew, Elijah, turns 2 years old tommorow and because the main character in my next picture book is named after him, I wanted to post the latest painting from that book.
Happy Birthday (and happy President's Day) Eli!

Moonpowder painting takes Grand Prize at SCBWI event

Every year for the last four years I have attended the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators conference in New York City. This year was no exception. The conference is a great way to meet new people in the industry, hear inspiring talks, and stay in touch with what is going on in the business. The hilights for me this year were, Brian Selznick talking about his latest book, Susan Cooper's Keynote, and Katherine Paterson's Keynote. I also attended two exceptional breakout sessions. One given by Chad Beckerman, on the art of jacket design, was a fantastic insight into the marketplace of YA jackets, as well as giving everyone some great tips on what makes a "striking" jacket. Mac Mcool gave an equally engaging talk on graphic novels. It was a very interactive breakout session as there were a few people in the audience who were also in the business of publishing graphic novels. And let's face it, the line between picture books and graphic novels is getting blurred every day.
Saturday night was the annual New York Showcase, where illustrators can submit a piece of children's book art for display, and industry proffessionals come and check it out. This year I entered one of the paintings from my next book, "Moonpowder" and was pleasantly suprised to win the Grand Prize for the second time! (I won it in 2004 as well) Thank you SCBWI !!

Wolf! Wolf! Book Party!!!

The day is finally here! The first book I have authored and illustrated, "Wolf! Wolf!" is about to be distibuted to bookstores across the country. (March 01,2007 release). And to celebrate this long awaited event. I am having a party/reading/signing/gallery show at a children's store called Pomme in the heart of DUMBO (near Brooklyn Heights). The party is on friday, March 2nd from 5pm-8pm and is open to the public. So if you are in the area, please come by and say hello.

Roccoart.com updated

I have finally updated my website! It has an expanded Wolf! Wolf! section for the release of my book on March 1.
Any comments are welcome.

Gollywhopper Games Book Jacket

I just got a recent book jacket sketch approved. And here it is. It is another book for Greenwillow. It is a fun, adventurous story that has a Willy Wonka feel to it. A bunch of kids compete in a game/contest inside a giant, fantasy filled toy store.
I put a lot of time into the color sketch because I wanted a pretty detailed road map for the final painting. I should be able to post the final in a couple weeks.
In the meantime, I am putting the final tweaks on another exciting book jacket for a book called Alex and the Ironic Gentleman.

On a lighter note, my 9 month old daughter saw her first snowfall today. The wonder in her eyes made my day. Time to starting waxing the sled!

Review from School Library Journal

Here is a recent review that will be in the February issue of School Library Journal.
Hyperion Reviews in School Library Journal, February, 2007
ROCCO, John. Wolf! Wolf! illus. by author. unpaged. Hyperion. Mar. 2007. RTE $15.99. ISBN 1-4231-0012-3. LC number unavailable.

K-Gr 3–This twisted treatment of Aesop’s fable flips everything readers know about the boy who cried wolf on its head and ends up where they never would have expected. From the brushstrokes of the hand-lettered title to the pink cherry blossoms featured with the wolf and the boy on the cover, ancient China unfolds as the stage and setting for this story. In this variant, children get a little insight into the wolf’s point of view: When the boy cries “WOLF! WOLF!” the slightly deaf animal believes he is being summoned. He feels tricked by the youngster when the angry villagers arrive looking for a menacing creature. The poor animal is only looking for a tasty meal, possibly one of the boy’s goats since his garden has fallen into disarray. In the end, the boy gives the old wolf a goat; instead of making him a one-time-only meal, the wolf puts him to work in his garden, and the two become friends. The wolf is a fully anthropomorphized character, complete with red silk jacket and shade umbrella. The purposeful use of frames, unusual setting, and visual humor makes this an excellent addition to any collection and a particularly interesting launching point for many discussions and investigations into fractured tales.–Genevieve Gallagher, Murray Elementary School, Charlottesville, VA

Moonpowder- halfway there!

These last two paintings represent the halfway point for my picture book 'Moonpowder'. It always feels good to get over the hump and start to see the book come together. I plan to have all the paintings finished by end of February...fingers crossed.
Then, March 01, my book 'Wolf! Wolf!' will be in bookstores. I found out that Barnes and Noble is going to have it "face out" in there children's book section, and Borders has selected me as one of their "Original Voices". I don't know which month yet, but hopefully March or April. This will be my last post this year, but I will plan to post more paintings from Moonpowder as they get finished.
Happy Holidays!

Dragon's Eggs for Thanksgiving

Well, I just finished the final painting for the cover of the YA novel, "Dragon's Egg", written by Sarah L. Thomson. I am happy with the final result. Not much changed from the sketch, except for the hairstyle of the boy. (a bit more contemporary here.) I also went to the "Original Art" show at the Society of Illustrators. There were lots of surprises, and some very beautiful children's book illustrations. I was introduced to Jerry Pinkney and Mo Willems, as well as running into my former teacher from RISD. As you may know the 10 best illustrated books from New York Times review came out. Lane Smith's "John, Paul, George and Ben" made the list which was nice to see.
Have a happy Turkey Day!

Two new Moonpowder paintings

Here are a couple of new paintings I have just completed for Moonpowder.
Not much to say, except that it takes me about a week to do a finish painting. Normally they would come quicker but with a 7 month old baby in the house, things have slowed down. I just have to get used to this pace for a while.
In other news, I have now posted images to a site called imagekind. They make and distribute beautiful prints of artwork and photographs. There is a link to my gallery on my website. or you can just click here (I think). http://www.imagekind.com/GalleryProfile.aspx?GID=1febf59e-2b1c-48ad-a01b-363bd0b6871f&P=1

Dragon's Egg

I know I have not posted in a while, but that doesn't mean I haven't been working. Lately I have been revising my book dummy for Moonpowder, and it is coming along nicely thanks to the input from my Editor and Art director. In the meantime, here are some sketches for a bookjacket that I am doing for the Harper Collins imprint, Greenwillow. It is a middle reader book by Sarah L. Thomson, and it was a fun read. I am hoping the sketch is approved, because I think this will be a fun painting. Any comments or suggestions are welcome. Oh, and I recently went to Books of Wonder where David Weisner was signing his new picture book, FLOTSAM. He had one of his paintings with him, and I was suprised at how meticulous his watercolors actually were. The book is quite beautiful, and once again he managed to capture my imagination with a wordless picture book.

September duldrums

Well, I have just returned from a two week trip to visit relatives and freinds in Belgium, and between the jet lag, the flu and a mild case of food poisoning, I didn't get much new work done. I usually have pretty high expectations of myself, so I am a little bummed that I couldn't paint or draw much over the last three weeks. I did get some writing done so I am pleased with that, and I have been asked to create a book jacket for a fantasy novel for Greenwillow books (an imprint of Harper Collins).
I read in the trades that Chris Van Allsburg and David Weisner are both coming out with new books! Chris's book looks like a return to his more softly rendered work (like Jumanji). David's book is called FLOTSAM and looks pretty interesting.
That's all for now...

Moonpowder-the dream

Here is my latest "Moonpowder" painting. I am pretty happy with the way it came out. When I get all the paintings completed, I will go back and do some color balancing and make sure the levels are consistent. I am still working out how the text will be laid in, but luckily, this page has only one line of text. I think if these wings worked, I would definitely want a pair.

Moonpowder-the arrival

Well, here is my last post for August. This is a painting I just finished for my picture book "Moonpowder".
Only 18 paintings to go! I am hoping to finish it by the end of the year, and I will continue to post the paintings as I complete them.
I also saw that Jon Muth will be speaking at Books of Wonder on Thursday September 7th from 4-6. I am hoping to go to that. I am a big fan of his work. If you don't know his work, he is a former graphic novelist who does amazing watercolors. He has created some beautiful picture books including; Come On Rain, Stone Soup, The Three Questions, and Zen Shorts. He will be signing his new book, wherein he illustrated poems edited by Caroline Kennedy.